International exchange promotes communication, cooperation
Families in Avondale, San Marco host students from Norway The Taylor family of Riverside can greet you in five languages: Hallo, Hej, Olá, Ciao and, of course, Hello. While knowing a little bit of Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese and Italian might serve Will, 18, Caroline, 15, and Kristin, 13, well as game show contestants, the […]
Barbara Gann Spurlin
The day after her seventh birthday in 1940, Barbara Gann – along with her mother, grandmother and sister – left Atlanta in a Model T Ford for a 12-hour trip to Jacksonville, where her father had secured a new home on St. Johns Avenue. Recalling that time of transition as easy, Barbara Gann Spurlin said, […]
Choreographer, dance educator takes final bow
The marquee at the Florida Theatre was ablaze with the message “Thank you Miss Beth” for Beth Marks, artistic director of Ballet Arts Centre in St. Nicholas, who took her final bow on June 13. Following Marks’ spring concert “Fantasia,” alumnae and current dancers joined her onstage for an encore, performing her jazz warm-up routine. […]
Reflections project overlays time and place
Fans of internationally acclaimed sculpture artist David Engdahl are in for a surprise when they visit The Cummer Museum of Art & Garden’s Reflections: Artful Perspectives on the St. Johns River exhibit. Engdahl, who has worked with wood laminates for nearly 45 years, was assigned to interpret Herman Herzog’s Figure in a River Landscape, […]
60-year-old Baptist hospital building to get $5.6 million facelift
In order to better reflect its cutting-edge facilities, Baptist Medical Center is giving a $5.6 million facelift to the outer façade of its main building at 800 Prudential Drive. The project involves removing the brick on the outside of the five-story structure, which was originally opened in 1955. The façade will be repaired and the […]
Neighbors rally around river access, form nonprofit
Eyesore, crime being addressed The threat of losing a century of easy access to the St. Johns River was all it took to galvanize the residents near Richmond Street and Little Van Wert. Within a month, a nonprofit organization, Friends of Van Wert Park (FVWP), was formalized and already more than two dozen members had […]